Wireless communication systems make use of routing protocols to move information from a first device to a second device. For such systems, there are often one or more base stations (various terms are used, including root node or gateway) that connect the wireless communication system to a second communication system. One example is an access point acting as the intermediary between a wireless system and a wired system. The other devices in the wireless system must determine how to route data to reach the base node.
Because the reliable transmission range of a device may not include the base node, routing strategies will often make use of intermediate devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, device X has a communication range RX, device Y has a communication range RY, and the base device B has a communication range RB. If only these three devices are included in the wireless network, the solution is simple: when X has data to send to B, X will send the data to Y, and Y will send the data to B. As more devices are added, however, the routing solutions become more complex.